Publications
The following list of California Water Science Center publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists.
Filter Total Items: 1729
Stream corridor and upland sources of fluvial sediment and phosphorus from a mixed urban-agricultural tributary to the Great Lakes
Like many impaired Great Lakes tributaries, Apple Creek, Wisconsin (119 km2) has Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) targets for reducing suspended sediment and total phosphorus by 51.2 % and 64.2 %, respectively. From August 2017 - October 2018, a stream sediment budget and fingerprinting integrated study was conducted to quantify upland and stream corridor sources of suspended sediment and sediment-
Authors
James Blount, Leah Kammel, Faith Fitzpatrick
Klamath natural flow study, Upper Klamath Basin groundwater flow model
The purpose of the Upper Klamath Basin Groundwater Flow Model (UKBGFM) is to simulate groundwater conditions in the Upper Klamath Basin under historical and predevelopment conditions. The UKBGFM quantifies estimates of and changes in groundwater levels, storage, pumping, drainage flow to tile drains, evapotranspiration, and flow between the Upper Klamath Basin and neighboring basins. The quantific
Authors
Jonathan A. Traum, Scott E. Boyce
Quality of groundwater used for public supply in the continental United States: A comprehensive assessment
The presence of contaminants in a source water can constrain its suitability for drinking. The quality of groundwater used for public supply was assessed in 25 principal aquifers (PAs) that account for 84% of groundwater pumped for public supply in the U.S. (89.6 million people on a proportional basis). Each PA was sampled across its lateral extent using an equal-area grid, typically with 60 wells
Authors
Kenneth Belitz, Miranda S. Fram, Bruce D. Lindsey, Paul Stackelberg, Laura M. Bexfield, Tyler D. Johnson, Bryant Jurgens, James A. Kingsbury, Peter B. McMahon, Neil M. Dubrovsky
Comparative behavioral ecotoxicology of Inland Silverside larvae exposed to pyrethroids across a salinity gradient
Pyrethroids, a class of commonly used insecticides, are frequently detected in aquatic environments, including estuaries. The influence that salinity has on organism physiology and the partitioning of hydrophobic chemicals, such as pyrethroids, has driven interest in how toxicity changes in saltwater compared to freshwater. Early life exposures in fish to pyrethroids cause toxicity at environmenta
Authors
Sara Hutton, Samreen Siddiqui, Emily Pedersen, Christopher Markgraf, Amelie Segarra, Michelle Hladik, Richard E Connon, Susanne M. Brander
Comparing imidacloprid, clothianidin, and azoxystrobin runoff from lettuce fields using a soil drench or treated seeds in the Salinas Valley, California
Neonicotinoid insecticide use has increased over the last decade, including as agricultural seed treatments (application of chemical in a coating to the seed prior to planting). In California, multiple crops, including lettuce, can be grown using neonicotinoid treated seeds or receive a direct neonicotinoid soil application (drenching) at planting. Using research plots, this study compared pestici
Authors
Emily Woodward, Michelle Hladik, Anson Main, Michael Cahn, James Orlando, Jennifer Teerlink
Potential health effects of contaminant mixtures from point and nonpoint sources on fish and frogs in the New Jersey Pinelands
Aquatic ecosystems convey complex contaminant mixtures from anthropogenic pollution on a global scale. Point (e.g., municipal wastewater) and nonpoint sources (e.g., stormwater runoff) are both drivers of contaminant mixtures in aquatic habitats. The objectives of this study were to identify the contaminant mixtures present in surface waters impacted by both point and nonpoint sources, to determin
Authors
Sara E. Breitmeyer, Heather L. Walsh, Vicki S. Blazer, John F. Bunnell, Patrick M. Burritt, Jeff Dragon, Michelle Hladik, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly L. Smalling
A summary of water-quality and salt marsh monitoring, Humboldt Bay, California
This report summarizes data-collection activities associated with the U.S. Geological Survey Humboldt Bay Water-Quality and Salt Marsh Monitoring Project. This work was undertaken to gain a comprehensive understanding of water-quality conditions, salt marsh accretion processes, marsh-edge erosion, and soil-carbon storage in Humboldt Bay, California. Multiparameter sondes recorded water temperature
Authors
Jennifer A. Curtis, Karen M. Thorne, Chase M. Freeman, Kevin J. Buffington, Judith Z. Drexler
Measured efficacy, bioaccumulation, and leaching of a transfluthrin-based insecticidal paint: A case study with a nuisance, nonbiting aquatic insect
BACKGROUNDPest management professionals will require a diverse, adaptive abatement toolbox to combat advanced challenges from disease vector and nuisance insect populations. Designed for post-application longevity, insecticidal paints offer extended residual effects on targeted insect pest populations; a measured understanding of active ingredient bioavailability over time is valuable to fully ass
Authors
Michael C. Cavallaro, Corey Sanders, Michelle Hladik
The Water Recycling Revolution: Tapping into the future
The Water Recycling Revolution discusses issues affecting acceptance of water reuse for public supply. The book is useful to water resource, regulatory, and public health professionals interested in the history of successful and unsuccessful attempts to conserve, recycle, and reuse treated municipal wastewater as a public resource. The book is timely given the extended drought conditions throughou
Authors
John A. Izbicki
Discovery and potential ramifications of reduced iron-bearing nanoparticles — Magnetite, wüstite, and zero-valent iron — In wildland–urban interface fire ashes
The increase in fires at the wildland–urban interface has raised concerns about the potential environmental impact of ash remaining after burning. Here, we examined the concentrations and speciation of iron-bearing nanoparticles in wildland–urban interface ash. Total iron concentrations in ash varied between 4 and 66 mg g−1. Synchrotron X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy of
Authors
Mohammed Baalousha, Morgane Desmau, Sheryl A. Singerling, Jackson P. Webster, Sandrine Matiasek, Michelle A. Stern, Charles N. Alpers
Floodplains and climate change
Floodplains are landscape features that are periodically inundated by water from adjacent rivers (Opperman et al. 2010). Ecologically, functional floodplains are characterized by three primary elements: connectivity, flow regime, and spatial scale. Water quantity flowing over floodplains can vary greatly. Based on a flood’s effects on the floodplain, three flood categories have been defined: flood
Authors
Annika Keeley, Shruti Khanna, Nicole Kwan, Bryan G. Matthias, Catarina Pien, Marissa L. Wulff
Chapter 1: General conceptual model for climate change in the Upper San Francisco Estuary
This report is a collaboration by many state and federal agencies working in the Upper San Francisco Estuary to analyze the potential impacts of climate change to different ecosystems found here. Management stategies for ecological values in the face of climate change require reliable and focused information. In this technical report, our focus is on the Upper San Francisco Estuary (SFE), which co
Authors
Eva Bush, Bruce Herbold, Larry R. Brown